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| International rice prices have reached the highest level in 15 years. |
The Thai Rice Export Association said the price of 'Thailand White Rice 5% Ssaragi' was $650 per ton the day before. That's a 2.5% increase from the week before. This is the highest price since October 2008. In early August, rice prices went up a lot.
India stopped exporting a lot of rice. Thailand had a bad crop because of dry weather. Prices went down in September and October, but they started going up again in November. This could mean that food prices will go up in the next few months. This is especially true in countries that rely on rice a lot, like the Philippines.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned about food prices increasing before the elections next year.. Even though India has lots of rice and has stopped exporting it, prices keep going up. The government has asked rice sellers to lower their prices.
The Thai Prime Minister announced that Indonesia will buy 2 million tons of rice from Thailand by the end of next year. The Rice Exporters Association of Thailand predicts that prices will remain high in the coming year.
People are worried about food, and India has stopped exporting rice. But if Vietnam and Thailand start exporting more rice, prices won't go up as much. Some people think that high prices will make farmers grow more rice.
On the other hand, the prices of other crops like wheat and corn have been going down. Thai white rice prices have gone up 36% in the past year, but wheat prices in Chicago have gone down 20%. This is the first time they've gone down in seven years. Corn prices have gone down about 30% this year.
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